


scout's honor

by betelgeuse (TheUltimateFandomer)



Series: it's messy but they're all that I have [2]
Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Babysitting, Gen, General Dumbassery, Humor, Post-Canon Fix-It, numerous references to lord of the rings, watching over that girl you kinda-sorta terrorized back in january
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23951158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUltimateFandomer/pseuds/betelgeuse
Summary: When the Steingolds' date night lies in jeopardy after their tried and true sitter moves out of town, a certain fifteen year old and her brother are volunteered to save the day.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz
Series: it's messy but they're all that I have [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1491755
Comments: 11
Kudos: 140





	scout's honor

**Author's Note:**

> welcome back! 
> 
> while I do suggest reading the previous fic in this serious for context, it isn't completely necessary. tl;dr is that beetlejuice is mainly referred to as lawrence and he's just chillin' with the deetz family now.

Looking back, Lydia should’ve known that life had been too easy lately.

As the school year wrapped to a close, she realized she’d managed to make it to the end without any major incidents. Her grade from Mr. Chenwith’s class was an A, brought up from a B+ due to her final project for the year. Socially, Angie had introduced her to some of her friends, and they’d all been nice to her, exchanging Instagram handles. Later that night, she’d opened her phone to see comments from them on a recent picture, complimenting her outfit.

June brought a sense of calm for her family. The Maitlands spent their days working on their rapidly expanding model of the town, her dad’s work hadn’t been too difficult, and, surprising no one, Delia had already begun to swap out the house’s decor to a more seasonal theme. She’d brought Lawrence along with her to the local craft stores, searching for anything that reminded her of beaches and warm weather, and their bathrooms, now decked out in seashells and seaweed, were the first to fall victim. 

It was all too calm, too easy, which is why it shouldn’t have come as a shock to her when, in her first week off, Delia came into her room with a new game for her Nintendo Switch.

“You never go into GameStop,” Lydia said, wary as she took the case from Delia. She peered up at her from her reclined position on her bed. “Why’d you go in today?”

“What,” Delia said, aiming for nonchalance, “I can’t just get a gift for my favorite teen gal?”

“No,” Lydia replied, “not when it involves going into, and I quote, ‘that creepy gaming dungeon.’”

Delia sighed. “Alright, maybe it wasn’t a completely charitable gesture, but don’t be mad, ‘kay?”

“Delia,” she said, slow, “what did you do?”

“And like, it won’t even be that bad, and you’ll get paid!”

“Delia -”

“What’re we talking about?”

“Lawrence!” Delia went slack, relieved at seeing him. “I was just telling Lydia about -”

He moved over to sit near Lydia, picking up the game case when he flopped onto the bed. “Whoa, who got this?”

“Delia,” Lydia said, unimpressed.

“Seriously?” At Lydia’s nod, he turned to Delia. “D, you hate that place. Why’d you go in?”

“I might’ve, uh,” she said, trying to avoid the truth, “I might’ve told the Steingolds that you’d watch their daughter on Friday night.”

“What?” Lydia yelped, sitting up. “You did what?”

“Lawrence as well,” Delia said, wincing, “they felt safer knowing an adult would be present.”

“Why?” Lydia whined, mouth agape. “Why did you tell them we’d do that? Why couldn’t you just do it?”

“Charles and I have to meet with his boss on Friday,” she said, “and they’re desperate! Isabelle, their sitter, just moved out of town, and they hadn’t been able to find someone yet. I wanted to help out!”

“By volunteering us? Delia,” Lydia said, “I’ve never babysat before, and BJ barely qualifies as an adult as is.”

“She won’t be a problem!” Delia exclaimed. “Their daughter’s about to go into middle school, so she isn’t even too young. It’ll be like hanging out with a friend.”

Lydia stared at her. “I’m fifteen! I don’t have time to watch over little kids on a Friday night!”

“Lawrence,” Delia said, turning to the man in question, “tell Lydia that she’ll be fine.”

“No,” Lydia countered, “Beej, tell Delia that she’s being insane!”

With a snap of his fingers, a white flag on a stick popped into Lawrence’s hand, and he waved it as he watched them, amused at their argument. “I’d prefer to remain a neutral party,” he said, shrugging.

Groaning, Delia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Lydia, I promise this won’t be hard. You might even have fun if you try.”

“No!” Lydia said. “I don’t even know them! There isn’t any amount of money you could pay me -”

“Twenty bucks an hour,” Delia said, “for three hours, seven to ten. Each.”

Lawrence dropped the flag in his hand, letting it fall onto the bed as he leaned forwards. “You’ve piqued my interest,” he said. 

“Deadass?” Lydia asked, surprised.

“Deadass,” Delia confirmed. “Will and Leonard were very adamant that they’d pay top dollar for reliable service.” She waved a hand, dismissing her step-daughter. “Of course, if you don’t want to help them out, I’m sure they can find another -”

Lydia looked at Lawrence, eyes wide, before looking back at Delia.

In unison, they cut her off. “We’ll do it!”

-

The sun was only just beginning to set when Lydia and Lawrence found themselves outside of the Steingold home, eight houses down from their own. It was on the smaller side, nowhere near as large as the pseudo-mansion Charles had bought, but it made sense; if it was just two fathers and their daughter, it wouldn’t make sense to waste money on unneeded space, especially when they didn’t feel the pressure to show off like her dad did. The outside was painted a beautiful pale yellow, with white window frames and a roof steeply sloped to help get rid of the snow that terrorized the North in winter. 

“You good, Beej?” Lydia asked, looking over at her brother as they walked to the front steps. Even if she wanted to put on the demeanor of a calm, collected teenager, she knew she was nervous, and she had half a mind to check her shirt for sweat stains. She’d never been in charge of a kid before, and, with this being the first impression she’d make on the adults of the household, she didn’t want to screw it all up by a bad introduction. 

“Yeah,” he replied, shoulders straight as he stared ahead at the door. Before they’d left, Lydia had chucked a plain black baseball hat at him and made him put it on, if only to avoid any conversations about changing hair colors. It was unnerving for Lydia to be unable to gauge his feelings on his hair, but it was almost worth it to see Lawrence fiddle with the brim every few seconds, adjusting it this way and that. “You?”

“Never better,” she said, jaw tight. She raised a hand to knock on the door, only for it to open under her fist, and she quickly brought her hand back down. 

A man smiled at her from inside, blond hair gleaming under the foyer light. “Lydia, and your brother, Lawrence, I presume?”

“That’s us!” Lydia said, holding out her hand. “We aren’t too early, are we?”

The man chuckled, shaking her hand with a firm grip. “Not at all, miss. Follow me in; Leonard’s still getting ready, so we have a few minutes for you two to get situated.”

He turned, walking into the house, and the siblings followed, with Lawrence closing the door behind them. As they walked, Lydia looked around the home.

Despite the smaller size, it was no less extravagant than her own home. The home had high ceilings and plenty of natural light, both aspects that were common in the neighborhood, and she could make out a Best Buy’s worth of technology from the first few rooms alone. 

The man, William, stopped when they got to the kitchen, leading them over to the countertop island. A notepad was set out for them, filled to the brim with everything they’d need to know.

“I know it seems like a bit much,” William said, “but Leonard and I -, well, we care deeply for our little girl.” He looked upward, a soft smile on his face as the sounds of a child’s laughter, followed by the deep resonance of a man’s voice, could be heard from the upper stories. “She had some issues, physically, when we first had her, and a few months back, she had a bit of a flare-up. It scared the daylights out of me, but she’s a trooper, y’know?”

“She sounds fantastic,” Lawrence said.

“She is,” William replied. “Anywho, I took the liberty of writing down anything you two might need to know, along with general instructions. There’s about fifty or so dollars for dinner tonight, feel free to get whatever you all want, and if that isn’t enough, just call me and I’ll sort it out. With that, Leonard and I’s numbers are on the back of the sheet. Delia already gave me your numbers, so we’ll be sure to text when we’re on our way back.” His face turned, a stern set to his eyebrows as he continued. “If anything, and I mean anything, happens, don’t hesitate to call us. If, forbid, something terrible happens, call emergency services first, then call us.”

“Anything else?” Lydia asked, feeling overwhelmed at the sheer amount of information. 

“She takes her medicine after dinner; if she takes it before eating food, it’ll make her feel nauseous. It’s an antiarrhythmic medication for her tachycardia, and it is very, very important that she takes it. One pill, right after dinner. With that, and I don’t want to go into the details or we’d be here all night,” he paused, “her condition, specifically known as supraventricular tachycardia, can be triggered by stress. Keep her calm, keep her happy, and she’ll be fine.”

“Got it,” Lawrence said. “Meds are to be taken after dinner, and we’ve got to keep her calm. How do you want us to keep her entertained?”

“She loves to read,” William said, “so don’t be surprised if she holes herself up in her room for most of the night. She and I made cookie dough earlier; she might want to pop it in the oven, and as long as you two are with her, she’s allowed to do so. Instructions for that are also,” he tapped the notepad with a finger, “written in here. Bedtime is nine-thirty, but if she gets nervous and asks to stay up for us to get home, she’s allowed to; in that case, she needs to be ready for bed by the time we get home. She just turned eleven a few weeks back, so she’s independent with that, but she might need help reaching something, so be alert.” He stood back, clapping his hands together. “Any questions?”

Lydia and Lawrence looked at him, eyes wide.

“I think we’re good,” Lydia said, voice small.

“That’s good! I promise it isn’t nearly as hard as it seems. I mean, I’m not the smartest guy around, and she’s still with us!” 

“With no small effort on my behalf,” a voice rang from the stairs. Another man, dark hair contrasting with the brightness the rest of the house held, made his way to the group, relaxed. “Although, I believe that Skylar would persist whether we were here or not.”

“Deetz family,” William said, hooking an arm around the waist of the other man, “my husband, Leonard. Leonard, Lydia and Lawrence Deetz, Delia’s kids.”

“Delia is a wonderful woman,” Leonard said, “and I’m sure her children are no different. Do tell her I said hello.”

“We will,” Lawrence said. 

“Are you two heading out?” Lydia asked.

The men looked at each other, smirking at an inside joke that neither Deetz understood. 

“I believe that there is but one thing left,” Leonard said.

Footsteps thundered from above, and a blur of blonde pigtails threw itself at the two men, who then picked the young girl up. She shoved her face into the crook of Leonard’s neck, shying away from the others.

“Sky,” William said, “these are your sitters, Lydia and Lawrence. They’re going to take care of you until we get back, okay?”

_ Where do I know that name from?  _ Lydia thought.

The girl pulled her face out, looking at her father. “Okay,” she said. She wiggled out of the grip that held her, landing on her feet on the hardwood below. She turned around to greet her sitters only to freeze in her tracks at the sight of the people before her.

_ Shit. _

Abruptly, the color drained from the young Girl Scout’s face, and her eyes went wide with fear. “Dad, Daddy, -”

“Sweetheart,” William said, crouching down to meet her eyes, “we’ll be back in a few hours, alright? They’re both very nice people, and we’re sure they’ll take the best care of you,” he paused, chuckling, “maybe even better than us!”

The joke got through to Sky, who giggled, a momentary break from fear when she looked at her parents. “That can’t happen,” she said, quiet, “it’s impossible.”

“Well,” Leonard said, “you’ll get to be the judge of that! Will,” he said, turning to his husband, “we really should be leaving if we don’t want to be late.”

“I’m ready whenever you are, dear,” he replied, standing back up to full height, almost identical to Leonard’s. “Be on your best behaviour, Sky. Lydia, Lawrence, you both know what to do.”

“We’ll do our best,” Lydia said, avoiding looking at the young girl. To her right, she could see Lawrence doing the same, staring directly at the couple, refusing to even glance at anything else.

“That’s good to hear,” Leonard said, and with that, he closed the door behind him and his husband. The young girl ran to the windows that lined the door, staring out. Within a minute, the sound of a car starting could be heard, and the couple left. 

Smiling, the young girl waved at the car as it left, and as it pulled away from view, she stepped away from the door as well. Slowly, she turned, shoulders tense, and her breath seemed to stutter in her chest as she faced them.

“Hello, Sky,” Lydia began, careful. “Me and BJ are -”

And she began to cry.

_ Shit,  _ Lydia thought,  _ shit, shit, shit, shit - _

Lawrence’s eyes went wide, and he dropped down, squatting to meet the girl’s eyes. “Hey, don’t cry! We’re not like, evil or anything!” He smiled at her, showing all of his teeth, attempting to be anything but scary to her.

If anything, the close proximity to Lawrence seemed to make the situation worse. “Get-,” she said, voice high, “get away from me!” 

“We aren’t going to hurt you,” Lydia said, dropping down as well. “We’re here to keep you safe!”

“No!”

“Yes!” Lawrence countered, frustrated.

“No!” Sky said, shrill. With all of her might, she shoved the two out of her way, making a break for the stairs. “I’m not going to let you guys scare me again!”

Lydia chased after the young girl, Lawrence hot on her heels. “We aren’t going to!”

At the top of the stairs, Sky looked back for a moment, and, after seeing the two behind her, went white with fright, blood draining out of her face. She took off, ducking into a room and slamming the door behind her.

“Sky!” Lydia shouted, finding the door locked. “Sky,” she said, lowering her voice, “we’re here to take care of you.”

Behind the door, Sky’s voice answered them. “I don’t believe you!”

“Kid,” Lawrence said, wheezing as he caught up to the girls, “we aren’t lying to you. Your dads’ asked us to take care of you, and we’re here to do that.”

In the lapse between voices, Lydia pressed her ear to the door. The young girl was crying, breath catching in her throat and refusing to leave, all of it ramping up her fear, which, if Lydia understood correctly, was one of the things that they needed to avoid at all costs.

“Sky,” she said, “do you know who we are?”

“You’re -,” she said, trying to speak, “you’re the people that scared me! You let me come into your house, and you made me scared, and -, and you made me cry!”  
“My name is Lydia,” she said, “Lydia Deetz. I’m your neighbor, my -,” she stumbled, “my step-mom knows your dads.”

“I’m Lawrence, or BJ, if you want, Lawrence added.

“We’re just normal people, Sky,” Lydia said, ignoring the snort of laughter she heard from Lawrence, “and sometimes we do bad things, y’know? And we shouldn’t’ve done them, but we did them, and we have to own up to it.”

Softly, muffled by a rug, Lydia heard the footsteps of the girl as she made her way to the door.

“We scared you, Sky,” Lydia said. “It was a very mean thing to do.”

“And we’re sorry,” Lawrence said.

“And we’re sorry,” Lydia repeated. “We just want to make you happy now, and your dads trusted us to do that.”

The door cracked open, and in the space between it and the frame, Lydia saw the girl’s face, blotchy and red, but she wasn’t crying anymore, and she seemed to be breathing fine.

“We want you to have a good night, kid,” Lawrence said. “If you want to keep to yourself, that’s fine. If you want to hang with us, that’s also fine. We just want you to be happy doing whatever you choose, not scared and feeling like you’ve got to hide from us.”

“If you want us to stay out of your way,” Lydia said, looking into her eyes, “we will. We just need to make sure you’re okay.”

She cleared her throat, gathering herself together. “You promise?” Sky asked, sniffling.

“We promise,” Lawrence said. Next to him, Lydia nodded.

Cautious, Sky took a step out, closing the door behind her. She looked up at the siblings, wiping a hand under her eye. “Can we eat?”

“Of course, kid,” Lawrence said. “Whaddya want?”

-

Half an hour later, Lydia heard Lawrence thanking the delivery driver as their pizza got dropped off, and she looked down at the young girl sitting next to her on the couch. “What’re you reading?” 

“ _ Lord of the Rings _ ,” Sky said, turning a page. 

Lydia whistled, impressed. “That’s pretty advanced,” she said, “you must be smart.”

A small smile made its way onto Sky’s face, a welcome sight compared to the panic of earlier. “My dads say that a lot,” she said, bashful, “but it’s still kinda hard to read sometimes.”

“What made you want to read it?”

“Dad read me  _ The Hobbit  _ when I was a kid to help me sleep,” she said. “Daddy watched, but he never really got into it like we did. The movies are pretty good; you guys should watch them sometime! It’s kinda funny, ‘cause -”

“Sky?”

The girl’s eyes went bright, and she shot up the stairs, feet thundering as she ran. Lydia heard her run into a room, and as quick as she left, she came back, holding something in her hands as she hopped back onto the couch.

“I got this!”

Lawrence came into the room, interested in the noise. “What’cha got there?”

“It’s the One Ring!” Sky said, excited. “Like Frodo carries! My dads got it for me when I graduated fifth grade!” She held out her hand and, sure enough, a heavy gold ring sat in the palm of her hand, light script flowing across the side of it. “It’s big on me now, but Dad says that I’ll grow into it!”

“What does it say?” Lawrence asked.

“‘One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,’” she said, reciting from memory, “‘One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness, bind them.’”

“That’s spooky,” Lydia said.

“It’s ‘cause Sauron made it!”

Confused, Lawrence looked at it closer. “Who’s Sauron?”

“He’s the bad guy! He’s evil and he wants to control everyone in Middle Earth and -” 

In her excitement, Sky had thrown up her hands, gesticulating wildly, and, as Lawrence moved to look at the ring, had knocked the hat straight off of his head. 

“Shit,” Lawrence said, hand flying to his hair.

“Don’t curse in front of her,” Lydia said, “she’s a kid!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Lawrence apologized, sheepish. He searched around for the hat, but as he did, the green roots of his hair saw gold begin to creep in, winding around and spreading throughout.

“Hey!” Sky said, watching it shift, “your hair changes color!”

“No, it doesn’t!” Lawrence denied, searching harder.

“Yeah, it does! It was green, and now it’s yellow!”

“I think it’s just the light,” Lydia lied. “You know, colors can appear different depending on the light source.”

“They can?” Sky asked, fascinated.

“They can,” Lydia confirmed. “BJ,” she said, looking over as he found his hat, cramming his hair inside, “why don’t we have dinner now?”

“Yeah, kid,” Lawrence said, “didn’t you say you were hungry?”

“I forgot about the pizza!” Sky said, shocked at herself. “We have pizza!” She pushed herself off of the couch, running into the kitchen to eat. Lydia and Lawrence followed, amused at the sheer amount of energy the girl seemed to have now that she was comfortable around them.

She clambered atop a stool, having grabbed it from the kitchen closet, and opened the box, taking a slice in each hand. Lydia found her a plate and put it underneath her, giving her somewhere to put it as Lawrence grabbed their slices. 

They sat at the dinner table, and Lawrence grabbed a juice box from the refrigerator for Sky. He looked down at it and, as an afterthought, took one for himself and Lydia, too.

“So,” Lydia said, “are you excited for middle school?” 

“Yeah!” Sky said around a mouthful of pizza. She swallowed and continued, “I am. I’m really excited to meet new people!”

“I’m sure you’ll make a lot of new friends,” Lydia said.

“Did you?”

Lydia stopped, putting her food down. “Did I what?”

“Make a lot of new friends,” Sky clarified. 

“Not -,” Lydia faltered, “not exactly. I was really quiet, and I was too afraid to talk to anyone. It took me a little longer to make friends.” 

_ Four years, to be exact _ , she thought,  _ but hey, who’s counting? _

Unfazed, Sky looked at her. “I would’ve been your friend,” she said, “a lot of my friends are quiet. You too,” she added, looking at Lawrence, “even if you do lie about your hair.”

“It didn’t change color! It’s normal hair!” Lawrence said, hotly.

“Sure,” she said, not believing a word. “My friends would like you guys, and then we would all be friends and eat lunch together.”

“That-,” Lydia said, shocked at the kindness of the young girl, “that’s very sweet of you, Sky.”

She shrugged, taking another bite out of her pizza. “You guys were mean, but you apologized and I forgave you, so we’re friends now.”

_ I forgot how simple it used to be _ , Lydia thought. “It’s nice to know that we’re friends now.”

“I just wish you guys weren’t so old,” Sky said, wistful. “If you weren’t, you could come to school with me.”

“I’m not old!” Lydia sputtered. “He,” she said, pointing to Lawrence, “he’s definitely old, but I’m not!”

“You’re a teenager,” Sky explained, “so that means you’re basically an adult, and adults are old. That means you’re old.”

She stared at the kid next to her. “I’m not old,” she muttered, “I can’t be old when I can’t even drive yet.”

“Hey, kid,” Lawrence asked, “you done?”

Sky nodded, pigtails flopping as she shook her head up and down.

“You’ve got to take your meds, then,” he said. He held the orange pill bottle in his hand and, for a moment, struggled with the cap.

“You need help, Beej?” Lydia asked, smirking.

He groaned. “Yes.”

She held a hand up and he chucked the bottle at her. With a simple twist, she opened the child-proof cap. “See?” Lydia said, taking out a pill and passing it to Sky, “not that hard, BJ.”

“According to you,” he muttered. He caught the bottle when she tossed it back to him, and he put it away, setting it next to the notepad Will had set out for them. “What time is it?”

“Seven forty-eight,” Sky said, pointing at the clock hanging from the wall. 

“Okay,” Lydia said, “that means you’ve got about an hour of free time before you’ve got to start getting ready for bed. What -”

Sky cut her off, excited. “Want to play Mario Kart?”

“Uh,” Lawrence said, “yes, we want to play Mario Kart!”

The young girl grinned at him and hopped off her seat, taking him by the hand and dragging him behind her to the living room. 

For a moment, Lydia saw her brother’s face pale, and if she could see his hair, she knew it’d be rapidly darkening. She feared that something was about to go down, but, surprised, she watched him shake his head and follow the young girl.

Lydia stayed behind, gathering up the dishes they’d used to give the two a moment to set everything up. 

She remembered her own incidents with him, of trying to drag him somewhere only to realize that that was not something he could handle. Comparing that to now, when he was able to separate the feeling of being dragged with what he’d been through, being able to keep his composure in the face of a jerk back into a memory, Lydia felt nothing but pride in him.

_ He really is getting better. _

-

The hour passed and, even when a fifth-grader beat her at a game she’d played for years, Lydia had fun. It was hard to even remember how bad she’d thought this whole babysitting thing was going to be, and she was happy to be proven wrong. 

Sky went upstairs to get ready on her own, promising to call them if she needed anything, and at nine-thirty sharp, she came down to bid them goodnight. After she’d gone back upstairs, Lawrence turned to her.

“Kid’s even got  _ Lord of the Rings _ -themed pajamas,” he said, impressed. “That’s dedication.”

-

At nine forty-five, Lydia got a text on her phone, the  _ ping!  _ of it bringing her and Lawrence out of the debate they’d been having for the better part of twenty minutes on the ethics of superheroes. 

_ We’ll be home in five minutes _ , the text read out, saved under the contact “L. Steingold” Lydia had put into her phone at the beginning of the night.

“They’re on their way home,” Lydia said, hopping off of the couch. “Anything we didn’t already do?”

Lawrence got up with her, looking around the house. “Dishes?”

“Did ‘em,” Lydia replied.

“Sky?”

“Fast asleep.”

“Lights?”

“Turned off,” she said, “except for the front door and living room.”

“I think we’re good!”

When he turned to face her, she held back a laugh. “You sure about that, Beej?”

He cocked his head, hair bouncing with the movement. “What?”

Walking behind the couch, Lydia scooped up the hat that had fallen off of his head. “Get this on before they get home, you doof.”

Lawrence took it from her hands and put it on, carefully tucking any loose strands of hair inside the cap. “Thanks, kid.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said, smirking.

At that moment, the distinct sound of a door unlocking caught their attention. The Steingolds entered the house, hair slightly damp from the rain outside, and as Leonard moved to close the door, William made his way down the hall to meet the siblings.

“Fun night?” Lawrence asked.

“Very,” William said, chuckling. “The house is still intact, and, by the lack of any frantic texts, Sky is asleep, I presume?” At Lydia’s nod, he continued. “Then I believe thanks are in order. Leonard?”

“Here,” the man said, appearing behind his husband. He took his wallet out, handing Lawrence and Lydia each a stack of twenty-dollar bills. “Do you two need a ride home?”

“Nah,” Lawrence said, “we love the rain.”

“And our house isn’t too far away!” Lydia added.

“Don’t tell Delia we didn’t try,” Leonard said, amused. “We’ll let you two get going, then.”

-

“Let me get this straight,” Delia said, watching as her kids, wrapped in all of the towels that weren’t already in the hamper, sat on the couch. “You two want to watch  _ Lord of the Rings  _ because -?”

Lawrence shrugged. “Sky told us to,” he explained.

“Found it!” Lydia said, selecting the first movie with the tv remote.

“Am I correct to assume that I’m on popcorn duty?” Delia asked.

Twin nods from towel-piles answered her.

“Well,” she said, leaving the living room to rummage through the cabinets for the ever-elusive popcorn bowl, “there are worse ways to spend a Friday night.”

**Author's Note:**

> long as hell author's note bc i haven't talked with y'all in a while and i have Things to Say :)
> 
> i'm back, babey! 
> 
> at least for this fic lol. can't promise anything, life is hectic, etc. etc.
> 
> quarantine has been,,, weird. like isabelle [@upperstories] mentioned to me, it kinda nuked any and all motivation i had for,,, anything. have barely written.
> 
> but i'm writing now!
> 
> speaking of writing, this fic was started right after i finished tmwmscr, then got left in the dust till mid-april, then worked on a bit, and now finished! 
> 
> also, fun fact - when you leave that much time in between writing, you forget things. completely forgot who tf william and leonard were referencing for a solid minute there.
> 
> i am shamelessly making sky into a mini-me. when i was in fifth grade i read LotR for the first time and just. :'). my dad read the hobbit to me when i was in first grade and that's when i got hooked. and, like sky's dads, he gave me a "one ring" as a fifth-grade graduation gift. i still have it and wear it today! also had a big ol' crush on frodo which explains a Lot about me as a semi-adult.
> 
> anywho. i lurk through the bj tags on ao3 and greatly enjoy readin' y'all's fics. like. i pictured + wrote my things My Way and y'all are doing it Y'all's Ways and it's just really fascinating to see how other ppl interpret characters i also write about. 
> 
> also. love the idea of sky's parents being two dads. part a being that adoption is a tricky, tricky process that puts strain on all parties involved, esp. in the us of a, so obv the child would be helicoptered over. part b being that, with her health problems + how hard it was to have her in their family in the first place, they would be Very Worried about her at all times. also X2, sky's version of arrhythmia is supraventricular tachycardia [can you tell i researched the shit out of this? lmao] which is aided via medication and can be triggered by periods of high stress and, in extreme cases, can result in unconsciousness and/or cardiac arrest. to go even further, i would say that sky has atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, which tends to occur most often in young women.
> 
> and, for funzies, if you want to tie it into the main musical, my personal belief is that the high psychological stress of, y'know, being terrorized by a born-dead and a teenage girl, resulted in [best case scenario] unconsciousness or [worst case scenario] cardiac arrest upon her booking it outta the house and getting home. this would also push the "flare up a few months back" will steingold mentions. 
> 
> basically a longass tl;dr of the past two paragraphs is that researching is Very Fun for Sherrie! i started a fic a month back and ended up losing interest in writing it [:(] but a key point of it was sternoclavicular joint dislocation and how it would work in a humanoid form. basically star trek's dr. mccoy trying to figure out if the alien [spock] that crash-landed in his best friend [kirk]'s yard has enough of a similarity to human biology to properly treat it. also more fun on SCJD, it hurts like shit and can result in unconsciousness which makes it one of the few joint displacements i found in my research that both fit the story line and could be solved without surgery [in certain cases. go to the damn ER if this happens to you].
> 
> another fun fact - got my writing SOL [mandatory test for all juniors in hs in america] score back and,,, got a perfect score babey! very proud of myself. got a shitty prompt but was able to work it to my advantage! wish they would send me my essay back bc that shit? slapped!
> 
> also [again, i know] something very fun and very niche is that dad = leonard and daddy = william. if you haven't figured it out, they're based off of leonard nimoy [spock in og trek] and william shatner [kirk in og trek]. even more fun if you know that leonard nimoy had a song called "the ballad of bilbo baggins" which is why he's the dad that got her into lord of the rings. this entire damn fic is just a bunch of references to geeky shit duct taped together and thrown out a window.
> 
> tautologies and non-american spelling variants are going to be the death of me.
> 
> with this fic, i have now written something in every rating on ao3 [excluding unrated fics? i think?]
> 
> and, as always -
> 
> like something? hate something? want to see something happen? want to see me eaten by a sandworm? let me know! comments are fantastic, especially when my wrists hurt like shit bc i've written more in the past week than i have since my school got canceled for the rest of the year!
> 
> my tumblrs are @strawberryicebreakers for main and @bisexualbeetlejuice for bj-specific content! hit me up!


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